BettyJean Downing Kling & Connie Kafka

A Few Sad Statistics

As of 2011, there were 72 women out of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and 17 women out of 100 members of the U.S. Senate. That’s just 89 women, or a mere 16.6 percent. Only 268 women have served in Congress since it was established some 222 years ago.

There are 15 women Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) leading U.S. Fortune 500 companies (3 percent), and most of those companies are in the traditionally “women-focused” food and cosmetics industries. (There are no women CEOs among the top 20 U.S. Fortune 500 companies.) There are 28 women CEOs leading U.S. Fortune 1000 companies.

The 2010 census shows that the United States is home to some 308.7 million people, with females representing about 50.7 percent of that number. So, in a country with a population of nearly 157 million females, there are 89 women Congressional representatives, and 43 women CEOs. Those are 132 extraordinary women at high levels of government and business who’ve demonstrated what empowered women can do. But their scant numbers are appallingly and frighteningly inadequate, and the numbers are no more encouraging in virtually any other fields of endeavor.

United, We Can Unleash Our Power and Potential

Such sad statistics indicate exactly how far women have not come since the Suffragists valiantly fought for and won voting rights for women in 1920 after a 72-year struggle. The reason? An entrenched patriarchal power structure, which even today continues to perniciously deny to females the opportunities automatically accorded to males. Solution? Free up women and girls, and unleash the united power of 157 million hearts, minds and voices to help solve the complex problems our nation and world faces. So long as half the population remains “bound and gagged” by an entrenched patriarchal power structure that continues to fail miserably at everything except telling women and girls to “sit down and shut up,” all of us—men, women, children—will continue to suffer needlessly the sad consequences of a nation and world deprived of the unfettered creative contributions of half its problem-solvers.

We all recognize the vital need for diligent, unrelenting activism on women’s issues—domestic violence; media injustice; rampant misogyny/sexism infecting our nation’s business, economic, government and social life; sexual abuse/incest; underage sex trafficking—and myriad other gender-based injustices. So, too, must we recognize that these women’s issues are crucial issues not just for women, but for all people, issues that, until conquered, will continue to rob our nation and world of the vast benefits of the power and potential of millions of women and girls.

We must also recognize that certain women’s issues continue to be turned into emotionally charged wedge issues by partisan groups seeking to selfishly advance their own agendas by deliberately dividing women. Not only does this prevent all people from the clear, keen focus required to conquer the injustices all females face, it also results in needless woman-against-woman attacks—making women adversaries rather than sisters and allies—thus detouring us all from the united path we must pursue in order to combat our common enemy: Outdated, patriarchal-based notions of what females are and can become.

The Majority United

The Majority United (TMU) is the only women’s issues/rights group founded on the premise that women can/must/need to work together regardless and in spite of partisan affiliations or ideologies.

Says founder and long-time women’s rights activist Betty Jean Kling:

“TMU stands proud with ALL women. We are neither left nor right. Nor do we lobby for or against choice or gay rights. There are specific groups devoted to those issues. Rather, TMU supports ALL women. We are proud of those who have the courage of their convictions and stand up and speak out for what they believe, just as the original Suffragists did. Women from both sides of the aisle are teaching us weekly that we can strongly disagree on some issues, yet stand together to advance the rights of women. Women have more in common than not. We recognize that no one agrees with anyone 100 percent of the time. Yet, as women, we can ALL agree that—united and mobilized—we can achieve what must be done; and we can ALL agree that we cannot achieve what must be done alienated, alone, isolated or working against one another.”

TMU’s Three Main Goals

Achieve an End to Violence Against Women and Children.

Achieve Equality, Opportunity and Justice for All. These are Human Rights.

TMU supports ALL women who support those goals for ALL women and children, and who support the United States Constitution as intended by the Founders for a Representative Government deriving it’s just powers from the consent of the governed, that is, ‘We the People’ of the United States of America.

2 Responses

Thanks, Barbara. I was privileged to serve as editor for BJ’s TMU position statement draft.

Just to clarify, at least from my humble perspective, this is not about any sort of “forced quotas” for elective office. This is about simple justice. It’s about removing the patriarchal “boot” from the throats of women and girls in order to allow them to develop their full potential as individuals, and thus unleash their power to contribute their problem-solving talents that are so direly needed by our nation and world.